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[Highland Park] Public Safety
by john ciroli 02 Aug '04

02 Aug '04

Hello Neighbors, On Monday July 26, 2004, the Highland Park Community Club Public Safety Committee sponsored a meeting of residents concerned about crime in the neighborhood. As guests the committee invited City Councilman Len Bodack and Zone 5 Police Commander Brackney-Griffin to attend. The meeting consisted of attendees voicing their concerns about the crime committed in the neighborhood, questions presented to the Commander, answers responded by the commander and some tips and action items discussed by the attendees. Below is a short summary of the points of the meeting and some remedies for our community. Issues: - Motorized scooters and ATVs circling blocks and making noise, especially late at night - Vehicle break-ins and vandalism to vehicles (Tire slashing, window breaking) - Armed Robbery (one instance) - Kids out unsupervised either during the day or at night. - Kids who trespass or annoy residents - Lack of participation in Block Watch - Children violating property - Police complaints don't lead to anything. - Inability to enforce curfew Results: ----------- - Reputation of Highland Park has gotten worse - Increased perception of personal risk - Increased expenditures on protective devices (alarm systems, motion detectors, etc.) - Fear of confronting even very young children who exhibit antisocial or threatening behavior Possible Causes: ----------- - Lack of parent accountability for children�s' actions - Lack of enforcement of curfew laws due to closure of youth detention center Remedies: --------------- - Protective measures (locking doors, securing belongings) - Complaints: (a) Silent Complaint forms (online:http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/police/html/police_tip_form.html) or in hard-copy from HPCC or local officer) (b) Call 911, even if you want to report a possible crime without police response (c) Contact committee person (HPCC Safety Committee, Democratic Party committeeman) (d) Contact Mayor's Service Center (online:http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/mayor/html/mayors_service_center.html) (e) Attend city council meeting (schedule online: http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/city_clerk/html/schedule.html ) - Youth activities: YWCA, YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, Big Brother/Big Sister, Union Project, Education Innovations - Parenting programs: One Vision, One Voice, Salvation Army, other programs that police work with - Mediation programs: Pittsburgh Mediation Center (online: <http://www.pghfree.net/~pghmed/>) - Block watches (need to be revitalized in order to be effective) - Outreach programs: truant/parole officers in Pittsburgh Public Schools, Weed and Seed (http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/weed&seed/) Some comments and items that are of interest as a result of the meeting: 1. Many of the concerns, and solution strategies of meeting attendees have been discussed and presented in the Highland Park Community Plan final report (online:http://communityconnections.heinz.cmu.edu/highlandpark/report.jsp) I encourage everyone to read it. 2. Alternative strategies to increased or more effective law enforcement that may address underlying causes of criminal or undesirable activity include youth activities, parental support, mediation, etc. as listed in the meeting notes above. Especially pertinent to how our community is dealing with these underlying causes is Highland Park Youth Group. Sal Wilcox and Marie Jackson of Education Innovations Inc. are co-coordinators (s.wilcox(a)educationinnovations.org and mv.jackson(a)educationinnovations.org, respectively). 3. I believe that local organizations could do more in the area of resident outreach activities to address some of the underlying public safety problems in the community. These outreach activities should focus on minority residents, low- and moderate-income residents, renters, youth and other groups that tend to be underrepresented in meetings of organizations such as the Highland Park Community Club. These sorts of activities are different from those sponsored by the HPCC Welcome Committee, the Membership Committee, or the yearly community-wide mailing of the HPCC newsletter. Instead, the community needs an effort to actively represent and advocate for the concerns of the broadest diversity of Highland Park as well as portions of surrounding areas that may share an affiliation with Highland Park. 4. The community needs to become involved in active Block Watch participation. The committee chair for the Block Watch committee is Jan Stayianos who can be reached at 412-363-8208. Please call her to find out more information and to join the Block watch program. 5. This important topic deserves ongoing discussions in order to share experiences, knowledge and solution strategies. One way to do this would be to have greater participation in the HPCC Public Safety committee, during or outside regularly-scheduled HPCC meetings. Another would be on-line discussions in a special forum dedicated to public safety, perhaps using the Public Safety discussion board already available on the Highland Park Community Plan website (www.highlandparkcommunity.com; click on �Community Plan Discussion Boards.�) I am open to any comments or suggestions regarding this meeting summary or next steps going forward. I (and the community) look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely yours, John Ciroli (jciroli(a)yahoo.com) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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[Highland Park] Operation: Lost Kitties...Mission Accomplished!!!
by Mitch Kates 02 Aug '04

02 Aug '04

I know there are some who utter the words "mission accomplished" a little too prematurely... Well I'd like to report a true mission accomplished for the neighborhood... As of Saturday July 31st we have successfully found BOTH of our missings cats...thanks solely to the neighborhood network we know as the neighborhood(a)highlandpark.pgh.pa.us email list!!! Both of our cats were found thanks to the efforts of friendly neighbors who found the little escapees and either read or heard about their wandering from subscribers to our email list... We would like to thank those who helped in the out-reach efforts and I'd like to throw a special shout-out to our own Rudy who has worked long and hard to develop this list and email system...I told Rudy yetserday that I truly believe that having this emai system is a very powerful way of helping this neighborhoord function as a well connected community! I encourage everyone to tell their neighbors about our email tree and have them climb aboard...there is great information to be had- such as weekly events...and important information- such as Crime Watch activity....and of course family reunification- ala the return of Gentian and O'keefe! Thanks everyone, have a safe and healthy Summer...but don't look now...Summer is almost over! Mitch ps...take advantage of the Summer in the Park Jazz series....great music and a wonderful way of sharing our community with a tremendously diverse and happy crowd!!!! pps...Vote November 2nd :)

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[Highland Park] D&L Cleaners - Garment Pickup
by David Betts 02 Aug '04

02 Aug '04

All, I've just gotten off of the phone with Tom's daughter, Teresa, with regards to picking up some clothes that were at D&L Cleaners during the week of Tom's death. She and her son are the only ones able to finish squaring away the affairs of her father and it sounds as if both are fairly overwhelmed with it all, as you can imagine. She asked that I pass some information along with regards to picking up garments that may still be at the cleaners so that they can finish winding up the business. To arrange for pick up you should call 412-323-0417. She will arrange a time for you to meet someone there to retrieve your belongings. However, as they are constrained by several factors as to when they can do this, she did ask that if you schedule a time to please to arrive promptly. Furthermore, she would like to get all garments returned by September 1. After that, it's likely that they will have to donate whatever remains to a local charity. Thanks, David -- David Betts 5656 Callowhill Street Pittsburgh, PA 15206 Home: 412-661-5061 Mobile: 412-860-6336

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[Highland Park] Update on bicycle repair
by Ryan Sauder 02 Aug '04

02 Aug '04

First of all, I want to say "thank you" to those persons who responded to my initial request concerning bike repair options in or near Highland Park. Several people mentioned Kraynick's Bike Shop, which is located at 5303 Penn Ave in the Garfield/Friendship area. Apparently, the owner does repairs and maintenance for very reasonable rates. However, he strongly encourages people to do the repairs and maintenance on their own with his equipment, guidance, instruction, and consultation. The shop phone number is 412-621-3091. I didn't need to head to the shop this time because a fellow listmember kindly offered to help me out with my particular problem. However, I wanted to let interested parties know about Kraynick's, which sounds like a great option. Best regards, Ryan Sauder 1210 Mellon Street ________________________________________ PeoplePC Online A better way to Internet http://www.peoplepc.com

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[Highland Park] National Night Out
by Rudolph T Maceyko 01 Aug '04

01 Aug '04

I was talking with one of my neighbors this evening about having a block party or something similar... and we discussed perhaps having this on Tuesday, August 3 in conjunction with National Night Out. Jan Stayianos mentioned this in her "Block Watch" column in the July HPCC newsletter that went to everyone in the neighborhood. If you live on Portland Street or Bryant Street near there and are interested in participating in (or organizing :-) such an event--please reply to me. I will gladly hand responsibility for organizing this to someone else :-) I encourage other "blocks" to organize parties for August 3. If you are interested in organizing something for your block, please let me know what your "block" is so I can send your email address to your neighbors to help organize. Rudy

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[Highland Park] This Week in Highland Park
by Rudolph T Maceyko 01 Aug '04

01 Aug '04

TUESDAY Neighborhood walk starting at Enrico's Tazza d'Oro at 7:30 pm (every Tuesday) National Night Out from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm THURSDAY Volunteer Day at the Union Project from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm Summer Market at the Union Project from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm (every Thursday until September 16) Artist: Adam Grossi, The Exquisite Corpse SUNDAY Reservoir of Jazz at the park entrance on Highland Avenue from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm Featuring: Salsamba Latin Jazz Group As always, please visit the Highland Park Community calendar on the Highland Park web site for additional details about the events highlighted in this weekly mailing: <http://www.highlandparkpa.com/calendar/> Rudy

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[Highland Park] Reservoir of Jazz; Lost Keys
by Rudolph T Maceyko 01 Aug '04

01 Aug '04

We owe a lot of thanks to Tania Grubbs for doing all of the hard work to put together another great jazz series in Highland Park! Without Tania, we probably wouldn't have had a Reservoir of Jazz series this year, since it was one of the Citiparks programs that was cut due to budgetary issues. Tania reminded us at the start of the show that Reservoir of Jazz was started in 1996 by the Highland Park Community Club under the direction of Maureen Cato--and now it's back in our hands. If you're not a member of the HPCC, please consider joining to help support such activities. The first RoJ event this year featured Jimmy Ponder Quartet: Jimmy Ponder on guitar, Mike Taylor on Bass, George Heid on drums, and Howie Alexander on keyboards. Tania and Jeff Grubbs even stepped in for a couple of songs. If you weren't there, you really missed a great musical event. LOST KEYS Tania has a set of (car?) keys that someone left in the park; call Jeff or Tania at 412-661-4054 to claim them. You'll need to be able to describe them in order to prove they're yours. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED If you can help set up, tear down, and/or clean up at the remaining three Reservoir of Jazz events this year, please see Tania or Bob Staresinic (at the HPCC booth). Your help is greatly needed and appreciated! Thanks again to Tania and to everyone who came out today! Rudy

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[Highland Park] Lost Cats
by Mitch Kates 30 Jul '04

30 Jul '04

Yesterday afternoon two of our cats went out on their daily out-door excursion...unfortunately we haven't seen them since. If anyone has seen them or they conned their way into your house, we would really like to get them home... They are both young...one male (O'keefe) he is a grey and white "Bullseye Tabby" cat...he is sporting a red collar with bells...the other is a female...she is black with white features...she is on the slender side...here name is Gentian...she also happens to be a new mom so her little ones would liketo get back to the task of nursing! By the way if anyone is interested in one of her kittens...give us a call! Thanks for any help...if there is any news from the neighborhood give us a call... Mitch & Cindy Kates 412-661-0726

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[Highland Park] Community Festival: Saturday, August 14, 5 - 9 PM, Bryant St.
by Michael P. Johnson 30 Jul '04

30 Jul '04

Hi all, The Highland Park Community Development Corporation, working with the Highland Park Community Club, is sponsoring our neighborhood's second Community Festival. It will take place on Saturday, August 14 from 5 - 9 PM on Bryant St. between Highland Ave. and St. Clair St. Activities include: - Children's games, arts and crafts (including the City of Pittsburgh's Art Cart) - Food vendors - Music - Information tables provided by a wide range of nonprofit organizations (arts, health, housing, youth activities, education) We encourage you to come to the event and spread the word. Contact information for the festival: Brenda Cole, coordinator (hp_cdc(a)netzero.net; 412-665-3646) Michael Johnson, volunteer (mkljjohn2(a)hotmail.com; 412-268-4270) We are especially interested in volunteers to help set up tables and chairs before the festival begins, and clean up after the festival ends. In addition, if you know of businesses, vendors, organizations, artists or musicians who would like to participate, please forward their names to Brenda and me. Michael Johnson Michael P. Johnson Associate Professor of Management Science and Urban Affairs H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management Carnegie Mellon University 2107C Hamburg Hall, 4800 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 t: 412-268-4270 f: 412-268-7036 e: johnson2(a)andrew.cmu.edu w: http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/researchers/faculty/johnson2.html

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[Highland Park] Let your voice be heard!
by Kate Freed 29 Jul '04

29 Jul '04

Let your voice be heard! Take a few minutes and give your input into shaping the future of Allegheny County. The Allegheny County Department of Economic Development is currently in the process of completing the state mandated comprehensive plan. In order to encourage all residents to have their voices heard, an online survey has been made available at: (http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/economic/survey04) The results will be used to help format public policy that will shape the future of Allegheny County in regards to housing, transportation, land use, development, historic and natural resources, and other characteristics. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey - take note that there are specific questions regarding cycling, transportation, and access to amenities. The more people that complete the survey will result in a more accurate and comprehensive document.

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